Verse Lens · Concise explanation
2 Samuel 21:7 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 7. 7But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech: “But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’s oath….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Seven Saulide Descendants Are Handed Over.”
Read It With
- 2 Samuel 21:7–9
Read 2 Samuel 21:7 with 21:7–9. The wording “But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’s oath…” supplies one opening in the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: David spares Mephibosheth because of his oath to Jonathan but selects seven other descendants, whom the Gibeonites kill and expose.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Seven Saulide Descendants Are Handed Over,” 2 Samuel 21:7 opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech through the wording “But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’s oath….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 2 Samuel 21:1–6 establishes this prior movement: A three-year famine is attributed to Saul's bloodguilt against the protected Gibeonites, and David asks what violent satisfaction they require. 2 Samuel 21:7–9 escalates the unresolved danger and its human cost; that demonstrated relationship, rather than sequence alone, explains its placement.
What Remains True
Power remains accountable for the people it exposes, takes, silences, injures, or kills; truthful memory keeps their bodies, testimony, agency, and cost visible. In this unit, that truth is tested by the concrete movement: David spares Mephibosheth because of his oath to Jonathan but selects seven other descendants, whom the Gibeonites kill and expose. In 2 Samuel 21:7, the concrete line “But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’s oath…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’s oath….” Reject inherited punishment and bargaining with other people's lives; investigate the responsible actors, protect descendants from retaliation, and pursue repair that does not require new victims. This response follows from the unit's own pattern—David spares Mephibosheth because of his oath to Jonathan but selects seven other descendants, whom the Gibeonites kill and expose.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Samuel 21:7–9 — Seven Saulide Descendants Are Handed OverSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 2 Samuel 21:7-9, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Samuel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, repeated verbs, names, syntax, and the base text behind translation and textual discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Sam.xml, 21:7-9
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Samuel with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Unit-bounded wording, older-English clarification, textual witnesses, syntax, names, numbers, and major historical or literary notes actually printed for these verses.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 574–575, translation and all translator notes attached to 21:7-9
Open source ↗